Umno supreme council member Lokman Adam has urged for a party election to be held so members can choose to cooperate with Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad or to oppose him.

Lokman (above) claimed that certain parties are negotiating with Umno’s enemies for Umno and Bersatu to join forces, and worse still, the party disciplinary board’s investigations was put to a halt by the party leadership.

“If it is true that some Umno leaders and former leaders are more comfortable with the ‘if we can’t defeat them, we join them’ approach, let the members decide if they prefer Hishammuddin Hussein’s approach, or if they prefer the ‘no retreat, no surrender’ approach.

“Rather than holding an extraordinary general meeting for members to decide the way forward, I urge for an Umno election to be held before the merger is expected to happen in May 2020,” he said in a statement today.

Previously, Sembrong MP Hishammuddin was accused of plotting for Umno elected representatives to join Bersatu.

The speculation intensified after 21 BN parliamentarians including Hishammuddin held a meeting on Nov 18 with Economic Affairs Minister Mohamed Azmin Ali.

Azmin and Hishammuddin (below, left) were said to be involved in rallying MPs to support Mahathir and prevent PKR president Anwar Ibrahim (below, right) from becoming Mahathir’s successor.

Hishammuddin, however, had dismissed the allegations.

On Dec 13, Hishammuddin was issued a show-cause letter and was summoned to explain the meeting with Azmin to the Umno disciplinary committee.

Lokman had claimed the purpose of the meeting was to rally Umno MPs to support Azmin, and he revealed that he was the one who had filed a complaint against Hishammuddin on Oct 30 to urge the party to act.

He also claimed that Hishammuddin’s negotiations had received the approval of certain members of the Umno leadership who are currently being trialled in court.

“Regrettably, apart from negotiating with our enemies, certain Umno leaders still fail to pay for the operations of Umno divisions that helped gain victory for Umno and Muafakat Nasional.

“Promises prior to the (party) election that Umno assets would be liquidated to fund divisional programmes were not delivered.

“Worse still, in the past 18 months, Umno’s shares in KUB, Utusan Malaysia, and Media Prima had been sold, yet help for the party state liaison committees and divisions are still disappointing,” he said.